Teachers were always worried about
the risk of the spread of infections
in school.
In Victorian times it was very common for diseases and infections to affect
almost every family in a small community,
so teachers were always careful to reduce the risk of outbreaks.

9th
April1880

This comes from the 1880
school Log Book of St Harmon's National
School (church school):"Many of the children are breaking out in sores
over the face -
Spoke to Evans' mother about getting something for his face - she refused
to do it so I have to make him sit separate from the others and make him
wear his cap in the school on a/c [account] of
his head being covered with sores".

There are lots of
examples of children being banned
from school if there is any risk of them bringing an illness which could
spread to the other children. It was also common to close schools altogether
when there was an outbreak of disease in the district...